Sealing-head for bottle-capping machines.



E. P. WETMORB.

SBLING HEAD FOR BOTTLE CAPPING MACHINES. APPLIGATIQN FILED MNA. 1910.

986,383. Patented Man?, 1911.

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E. P. WETMORB. SEALING HEAD FOR BOTTLE OAPPIG MACHINES.

IAPPLIOATON FILED .ULg-4. 1910.

Patented Mar. '7, 1911.

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' sealing operation, lsto be bent UNITED naar. roeren wnr'nonm of'031,0", l`4 dass'tenori.

snai. COMPANY, or aanmaning@ onrommon or 'DELAWARE-:-

snamnen'nxn Fon Bor'rnlckrme inten-mias.

Specietioii ofLetters-atent. Patn'f-,ed *nig-IL.

Application mediana-14,1910. semi No. 536,304.

chines, of which the following is a full, j=

clear, and exact description, reference being had' to the accompanyingdrawings', orming part of this specification, inwhich- Figure 1 is 'alongitudinal vertical section of a sealing head embodying my inventionand showing a bottle neck and cap in entering position; Fig. 2`is sainescale with the cap shown in nearly its sealed position; Fig. 2a is adetail view on a larger scale, illustrating theA action oil-he dies upona cap; Fig. 3 is a section on the line IIL-III of Fig. 1; Fig. is aperspective view of the die carrier; and Fig. is a perspective view ofone of the dies. Fig. (Sis a sectional elevation illustrating generallyone means for lifting a bottle to-the action of the capping head.

My invention has relation to sealing heads for bottle cappingmachines,and is designed to provide a novel and etlicient head of this character,especially adaptedffor use with sealing caps having a substantiallyhorizontal corrugated iiange,

into the vertical plane of the skirt of the cap, and the corrugations ofthe `flange 'forced inwardly u derneath -the locking shoulder of thebottle. y

The invention has more particularrelation to the novel construction andarrangement of 'the dies for eli'eeting this work. f

'The precise nature of my invention will be best understood by referenceto the lac,- companying drawings, in ywhich I have shown the preferred'embodiment thereof, and which will now 'be described, 'it'V beingpremised, however, vthat various" changes may be made in the details otthe constructionand arrangement of thevarious parts without departingfrom the spirit and scope of my invention as defined Iin the appendedclaims. A .v In these drawings, the numeral 2 desigwhich, in thedownwardly a similarl view on f .natesv 'the' casingroethe P. WETMORE,Ohio, have in Improvement in l' ment of the die.

wardly lthrough the die carrier and signed" tobe secured in manner, themac means of any approved ing the bottles into the sealing. =This casin'or shellhas an en# larged interior chain ered Iportion 'orj'head 3at-,its lower end,in'which are seateda plurality of radially movablesegmental dies et, these dies being shaped at Atheirinner ends to malteup Aa complete cylindrical die cavity,as clearly shown inFig. 3. The diemembers are seated in a block 5, which is removably fitted within thelower portion 'head to. effect the of the head', .and 4which is formed'with `aV plurality of radial slots 6 to seat the' dies.

Each die is formedwith an outwardly opening pocket 7 to' seat a spring8, 'the-innerend of the spring seating against the. inner wall of thepocket, and the outer end seating in a screw plug 9. These screw plugsare threaded into a. sleeve 10, which is threaded into the head andsurrounds the die-carrier 5, land has an inwardly extending annularflangell at its lower end, which 'forms a bearing surfaceior the lowerfaces ofthe dies 4. The die carrier is formedwith the shoulder .at.12,'which is arranged to be engage-d by a stop lip'or projection 13'on'each die Afor the purpose of limiting the movecapable ot'anindependent limited radial movement against its spring.

14 is a rod! orl plunger, which extends vertically upward into-theShelli or casing 2, 4being guided at 15 .at'its'upperenm and having a;surrounding flange 1.16 near vits lower end, which .'normally' seatsdownwardly against the upper face o fr the die carrier 5. The portionlilab of thisplunger which isbelow the flange 1G extends downthe diecavity.

17 designates a relatively stiff coil spring seated around the upperportion ot' the plunger between its upper guide and the flange 16, thisspring being arranged to opposeupward movement of the plunger.

To 'r1-rr. 'steam-negocian ,a

head, which-is ,def l fixed position above the bed ofthe cappingmachine-in the usual ,ine being provided with character for ra'is- Inthis manner'each die isthrough charatter to cause breakage.

member may be normally secured in place by a clip or latch device 21.This g'uide member is also cut ai'vay at its upper surface at one sideas shown at Q2 to form a space for the operation of a cap feedingdevice, which may be of any approved character.

24 indicatesa bottle to be capped, and 25 one of the horizontallyliangedsealing caps. The operation is as followsz-The caps are successively fedinto the position shown in Fig. l by the action of the feeding .de-

vices, and the bottles are then elevated against the caps and the lowerend of the plunger 14a. This raises the plunger against the spring 17,and brings the horizontal `flange 26 of the cap, into contactwith thelower' horizontal face of the dies. lt will be noted that each of thesedies has a horizontal lovver face and a vertical inner face, and thatthe tivo faces are connected by the rounded surfaces daf The firstcontact of the dies with the horizontally extending flange Q6 of the capis at apoint near the outer edge of such flange as shown in Fig. 2a,thereby preventing any tendency of the dies to shear the flange from thebody or skirt of the cap, and

. also giving an effective bending leverage.

As the ca is forced uovv'a rdl1 into these dies l. to theposition'shovvn in Fig. 2, the frange is bent or wiped downwardly intosubstantially the vertical plane of the skirt portion of the v sitionthe eorrugations naturally close and their upper end portions are forcedinwardly underneath the usual locking shoulder on the bottle, thusgiving a very secure and effective loclr. Y

Owing to the fact that the bending pressure reo'uircd to maire the sealis almost Wholly in a vertical direction, there is practically an entireabsence of any inward pressure against the necks of the bottles of a Thedies being made in sections, capable of independent yielding movement,readily adapt themselves to irregularities in the ferm of the bottlenoch, and also to variations in the sizes of such nc., o that perfectsea-l is proy duced notvvi' tending such variations or differences. Thecaps can also be made of relatively thin metal which will readilystretch and adapt itself to these differences and variations. v

For convenience in removing the diebarrier and dies from the headandhandling them as one piece, the die carrier may be connected to theslee-ve or bushing lO by means of screws passing upwardly through theinwardly extending flange of the sleeve into the dies carrier, theperforations in the lat-ter for these screws being shown at 27 in Fig.t, andthe screws being shown at 28 in Fig.. 3.

Any suitable or usual means may be employed for lifting the bottles tothe action of the capping head. I have indicated in Fig. 6, one suchmeans, consisting of a vertically movable plunger A having a cross headat its lower end, Which is actuated by a rotating cam B.

Itv Will be obvious that various changes may be made in the details ofconstruction and arrangement ofthe parts without de- 1. In a sealinghead for' bottle capping' machines, a casing or shell, a sleeve orbushinJg removably secured therein and having an inwardly extendingannular flange at its loiver end, a die seating block Within said sleeveor bushing, said block having a plu-` rality of radial die seating slotsopen at their lower ends, and a. pluralityl of independently movabledies seated in .said slots and upon the upper face of said flange;substantially as described.

2. A capping mechanism, comprising a die composed of a plurality ofmembers or sections having independent radial movement, their innersurfaces When closed forming a substantially continuous cylindrical diecavity, said members or sections also each having a substantiallyhorizontal lower die face to engage .the flange of a sealing cap nearthe outer periphery thereof, together With means for effecting arelative movement of the dies and cap in the direction of thelongitudinal axis of the said cavity,` substantially as described. v f

3. A capping mechanism, comprising-a die composed of a plurality ofmembers or sections having independent radial movement, their innersurfaces-When closed forming a substantially continuous cylindrical diecave ity, said members or sections also each havbeing connected with theinner Aand subfstan my hand.

sseaaf I 8 ing a substantially horizontal lower die :face thegdilletifn/fffbh lff'gllld-ll XS Oft-h6 toengage the fla-nge of a, sealing capnear the vdie cavity, substantially as described. I 10 outer peripherythereof5 the horizontal faces Intestimony whereof, I havel'hereunto setl tialljy'vertical die faces by rounded corners l v EARL 'PORTERWETMORE. to'prevent'shearing action on the flan e'of yvitnesses:thevcap, together with means for 'eietng a f v G. H.V ALTER, l

relative movement of the dies and cap in Tgoms DAvm.

Copies ot thii patent may be obtained for ive cents eachyby addressingthe "Commissioner o! intents, v

Washington, D. C.

